Held every four years, the last ICPC was held in Brisbane in 1998. The conference draws together a wide cross-section of people in the international coal industry involved with coal preparation.

As the quality of South African reserves of raw coal declines, an increasingly important role is emerging for coal preparation engineers, according to mining industry magazine, SA Mining.

South Africa currently produces about 300 million tons of hard coal per annum, the bulk of which comes from the Witbank-Highveld coalfield. Producers are increasingly producing more steaming coal for exports as the quality of the reserves diminishes. As a result there is a growing focus on the cost-effectiveness of maximising the yield while producing an acceptable quality of export coal.

SA Mining reported that more mines would switch from being exclusively export mines to becoming multi-product mines with an increase in the reprocessing of waste dumps. One of the major thrusts will be the improved beneficiation of fine and ultrafine coal, and a more important role for coal preparation.

A provisional program for the conference has been released covering topics and speakers. Subject areas to be covered include beneficiation, flotation, jigs, laboratory, environment, power generation, dewatering, modelling, quality control, analysers, desulphurisation, research, cyclones, fine coal/spirals. Speakers come from several countries including China, Australia, South Africa, Russia, India, Poland, Germany and Japan.

Some speakers from Australia include the following:

R Perry, The evolution of a modern coal preparation facility in Queensland, Australia— From 5Mtpa to 10Mtpa.

S van Barneveld, C Hillard, P Braun, and P Tobin will present Macquarie coal preparation plant — process rationalisation.

S Nicol, B Firth, and A Swanson will give a paper entitled: Opportunities for improved fine coal treatment.

Low frequency microwave analyser for on-conveyer measurement of moisture in coal, to be presented by NG Cutmore, D Crnokrak, AJ McEwan, DG Miljak, and TG Rowlands.

Investigation into the problems of discharging Queensland Coals from bottom dump rail wagons, G O’Brien.

Development of improved dense medium and classification cyclones, by R Rong, TJ Napier-Munn.

Fines coal recovery from tailings streams — an integrated approach, B Cooney.

Optimising fragmentation from coal face to plant feed, D Esterle, G Thornton, A O’Brien, and A Cocker.

Development of BHP coal’s south Walker Creek PCI Coal Mine, H Lief.

For contact details for the conference see http://www.saimm.co.za or http://www.sacoalprep.co.za. Additional information also under "Events" on this website.